Kendrick Lamar covers the new Forbes “30 Under 30” issue, which was accompanied by an interview with senior editor Zack O’Malley Greenburg.

It’s an interesting and wide ranging piece.

K Dot talks about his musical influences, how he got his start in the business, falling in love with hip hop at four-years old, being mentored by Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith and Dr. Dre, mumble rap, mistakes he’s made along the way and Barack Obama.

One of the questions posed to him by Greenburg had to do with being labeled a conscious rapper. The “Humble” hit maker answered it by quoting 50 Cent.

“Everybody have they own opinions, but … I always go back to what 50 Cent said, and it always stuck with me. And when he said it, it made an even more valid point. He said, ‘We all are conscious, whether you’re doing gangsta rap, whether you’re doing so called conscious rap, whether you doing whatever genre you may in because you have a post, you alive and you’re telling your true feelings … these are your true thoughts and you’re conscious of them, and you’re aware of them. You are conscious, as simple as that.’ When he said that, that inspired me to not only recognize my own influence on what I have with my people.”